If the internet is primarily dependent on cables that run through oceans connecting different countries and continents. During a war, anyone can cut off a country’s access to the internet. Are there any backup or mitigant in place to avoid this? What happens if you cut the cable?
In: Technology
One of the chief design goals of the internet was its durability. The internet as it exists now, particularly with the web, is very different in design and purpose than its origins as a tool for military communications during the Cold Wars.
The goal was that there was no “central hub.” There isn’t even a singular internet. It’s just various communication tools connected to one another. If one gets cut off, that’s not going to crash the whole system. You could split it in two, and each half will function perfectly fine, just as if you had simply disconnected one device.
While there’s been a lot of infrastructure built up around the internet that does give elements of centralization to various extents (see what happens when AWS or Cloudflare goes down), the core of the internet’s design remains in place. A web service outage might cause a lot of websites to go down, but it’s not going to stop your online game session. A state might cut off its internet to suppress protests, but that’s not going to stop the functionality of the internet for other countries.
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